Angel On Fire

Chapter 5 - A Brother's Fear

"So, you're saying you can get us there, but not to where she is exactly." Loki asks folding his arms over his chest.

"That's what I just said." Strange retorts making Loki reach up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "It will take me a little while to come up with all the ingredients for the spell, so stay here... and don't touch anything."

As he leaves the room Thor looks after him for a moment before he walks over to the table where the book is sat and giving it a once over sits down at the table. Opening it, he starts to read.

"What are you doing?" Loki asks from the other side of the room where he was fiddling with some sort of old set of armor.

"What does it look like, reading." Thor replies making Loki cock an eyebrow at him.

"I have to admit it's been years since I've seen you with a book in your grasp."

"Well, if this book is from the world where she is, then doesn't it seem smart to read it." Thor retorts making Loki stare at him for a moment in surprise.

"I honestly cannot believe you thought of that before I did." Loki answers making Thor chuckle. "Let me read it when you're finished."

"If we have time." Thor jokes making Loki roll his eyes at his older brother. "In all honesty..." Thor starts his eyes lifting from the pages a faraway look filling them. "I'm reading this book because I wish to know who our little sister is with and if they can be trusted." He pauses his brow furrowing. "The fact that I cannot be there myself to protect her kills me. I'm doing this to take my mind off how angry I am at how helpless I feel."

"I know your pain brother." Loki says sitting next to Thor a sad look filling his eyes. "I miss her as well."

"After the fall of Asgard, (Name) was never the same. I feel it hurt her more than it did us."

"You did what you had to do. If Hela had gotten ahold of the Bifrost, the nine realms would have been obliterated. (Name) knew what had to be done, she aided us in the battle."

"But you did not see her eyes as Surtur destroyed our home. She may have aided in its destruction, but I fear that only hurt her more." Thor rakes a hand against his short locks making him groan out even more.

"Let's focus on one thing at a time, shall we? We can all have a nice chat when we get her back." Loki concludes making Thor nod.

"You're right." Thor says letting out a heavy sigh. "Back to the book then."

"You read it, then you can tell me about it. I have a feeling we were followed on our way here." Loki states as he stands up and heads towards the front door. Thor goes to follow him, but Loki holds up his hand stopping his brother. "Read. I'll handle this."

When Loki makes it to the front door, he doesn't hesitate to open it revealing both Steve and Bucky standing there with shocked expressions on their faces. "What are you two doing here?" Loki asks anger lacing his words.

"We want to help." Steve says making Loki glare at him.

"Help?" Loki asks as his eyes move to glare at Bucky, "Hasn't your friend helped enough?"

"I didn't know any of this was going to happen." Bucky interjects making Loki chuckle.

"How could you possibly have known? You're not the one who sent her away. No, you're just the one who broke her heart."

"I didn't break her heart. (Name) wasn't in love with me."

"One thing I pride myself over is knowing my sister better than most. She may never have said it out loud, but I knew she loved you." He pauses a silent rage filling his body. "You took advantage of her for your own selfish gains, and now that you know how you used to feel about Miss Romanoff, you drop her like a sack of potatoes. Forgive me if I don't believe your bullshit."

"Loki, I swear I didn't know she was in love with me. I know that doesn't make up for what I did; but when she left it seemed like she didn't care either way. Now the more I think about it, it seems she was just trying to hide her feelings from me." Bucky pauses his brow knitting together. "I know you think I don't have a right to go after her and you might be right; but I do care about her, and I want to make sure with my own eyes that she's alright."

"What if she doesn't want you there?" Loki asks making sadness fill Bucky's blue eyes.

"Then she can tell me herself. I just want to make sure she's okay."

"Let him in," Loki hears Thor say from behind him and he turns to see the book is still in his hands. "Let her be the one to tell him."

"Fine," Loki replies as he turns away from them and walks back towards the room, bypassing his brother.

"Thank you," Steve says as he and Bucky enter the Sanctum Sanctorum.

"Don't thank me." Thor replies anger in his eyes. "If it were my choice, I'd have stranded you on some deserted planet. I'm doing this for my sister, not either of you." Then he turns and heads after his brother his eyes focused on the book.

"Understood." Steve replies following after them with Bucky in tow. When they all reach the room Thor and Loki had been waiting in Steve asks, "So, what did you guys find out?"

"(Name) is in some place called Middle Earth," Loki says not looking over at them.

"Where's that?" Bucky asks furrowing his brow.

"Some other universe, Strange is looking into it now." Thor replies curtly his eyes not leaving the pages in front of them.

"What are you reading?" Steve asks making Thor pause his pacing.

"It's supposedly a book from that world. So far it is pretty interesting."

"How so?" Loki asks looking up from his seat to meet his brother's gaze.

"Well, there are trolls there, Wargs, which is some kind of giant wolf, smaller than Fenrir though, orcs, I'm not sure what those are but from the description in this book I fear it's something that will terrify (Name), other than that there are Dwarves, Elves, Wizards, a shapeshifter; and oh, that's not good." Thor pauses worry filling his face.

"What is it?" Loki asks moving from his seat to look over his brothers' shoulder.

"Giant spiders, and a Dragon."

"Well that's definitely not good." Loki replies making Steve narrow his eyes at them.

"What's not good, the spiders or the dragon?" Steve asks folding his arms over his chest.

"Both really. (Name), for some reason is deathly afraid of spiders, and that's just the tiny ones. Imagine her meeting one of these creatures." Loki clarifies making Steve nod.

"And the dragon? Well we kind of tended to keep her away from those when we were younger. They always had a weird obsession with her, maybe it's because of her powers?" Loki insinuates making Thor shrug.

"Well let's just hope she doesn't meet this one, he is smarter than the ones we are used too." Thor clarifies making Loki furrow his brow in worry.

"Then we just need to get there and get her back before she meets it." Steve adds making them all look at him.

"There's also something else." Thor adds closing the book completely as he hands it to Loki. "(Name)'s in the book."

"What?" Bucky exclaims his eyes widening.

"At first, she wasn't, but it seems her being there is slowly changing the book. As I read through it, I had to reread some parts cause they started to change before my eyes." Thor confirms making Loki nod as his eyes glance over all the pages taking every fact in.

"Huh," Loki says his brow knitting together in intrigue. "This is interesting."

"What is?" Bucky asks moving closer only to Loki take a step away from him and close the book.

"You wanna know, you read the book." Loki concludes shoving the book into Bucky's chest.